Additional Hate Crime Reporting Categories May Be Added To FBI Form

Sikh News Network reported Wednesday on efforts being made to add three additional sub-categories to the FBI's "Hate Crime Incident Report" data collection form to track anti-Sikh, anti-Hindu and anti-Arab/ anti-Middle Eastern hate crimes. Sikh advocacy groups have particularly been pressing for the changes as attacks on Sikhs have multiplied. On Oct. 18, civil rights and community relations agencies presented a recommendation to the Uniform Crime Reporting Subcommittee of the FBI Advisory Policy Board that these changes be made. The recommendation (with additional input from interested parties) will be considered by the full Advisory Policy Board at its meeting in Spring 2013 and will likely be approved by the FBI director in June 2013. The FBI will then need to revise the form, obtain approval of the revisions from the Office of Management and Budget, and modify systems to enable the data collection. If all of this goes as planned, it is likely that data collection using the revised categories would begin in 2015.